Spoon carving from a Bushcraft perspective.
Home of the MaChris Bushcraft knife.
MiniMac Carving knife.

Spoon carving from a Bushcraft perspective with Jon Mac...I am a spoon carver who lives and works on Dartmoor in Devon. I carve spoons and Kuksa from green wood, using the three principal bushcraft tools. The knife, Axe and hook knife. I find spoon carving gives me a greater understanding of these tools as I can demonstrate a precision of craft in the finished spoon. I have developed my own spoon carving knife 'The MaChris' which is made by 'Chris Grant' a fantastically talented bladesmith.

Saturday, 16 October 2010

My friend Matthew from Workshop Heaven sent me a knife blade recently. It is a very slim blade, about 1mm, and approximately 7.5cm useful cutting edge , made from some splendid 12C27 steel, the same steel used in my favourite French Laguiolle eating knives...

This knife from Matthew is super slim and super sharp. It comes as a broad tang knife. The tang could be wrapped in leather or rubber to give it a usable handle if you wanted a quick handle solution. I sent my blade and a handle I had modelled on the Roselli carpenter knife, up to Chris, who ground down the tang and fitted the handle.

The result...

A very pleasing and usable carver...

Nice and narrow for those tricky hollowing and chip carving jobs...

I've been using this blade for a while now and can recommend it as a nice little lightweight carver...

I'm going to pop it in the post to my great friend Ralph and let him use it for a while...

The other week my old friend John.R turned up at my house. "You've inspired me to make my own knife". He said. With a big grin he rummaged in his bag and presented me with a box. Inside was everything you would need to make your own knife, except the blade provided was absolutely horrid. I gave my friend Chris a call, and asked if there was anything to be done. He told me that when I come up for a visit he would sort something out...

On my return home I gave John.R a call to show him what Chris had made, a very nice utility blade in CS80, Scandi ground with a nice chunky needle tang.

John found me a nice piece of Yew for the handle. I soon set about making a copy of the handle used on the MaChris. Once it neared completion I gave it to a friend of mine who would drill a couple of holes down the middle to accommodate the tang. This job can be done with a hand held electric drill if your careful...

I made up a couple of wedges from some pieces of timber from the 'Gypsy Moth'. These wedges are popped in to stop up the visible hole, they aren't structural in any real way...

It is always a good idea to protect some of the blade and handle with tape, in this instance I used some parcel tape..

Before assembly, make sure the shoulder of the knife fits accurately into the handle. I had to use an old screwdriver, heated until red hot, to poke down the drilled hole just to burn enough wood away for an extra couple of millimetres depth...

When your happy with the fit, mix up your fixing resin and fill the chamber, pop in the blade, push the blade into a wooden block and give the top of the handle a couple of sharp blows to get everything seated. Carefully remove the blade and handle from the block and insert the wedges...

A couple of taps to seat them and leave to dry...

Once the resin has set, use a knife to carefully carve away the wedges, clean the handle and leave to soak in your preferred oil for a day or two. In this instance I used some Danish oil from Liberon.

I am sure John will get many years good use from this knife. All we have to do now is make a sheath...

Jon has worked with edge tools all his life. During this time he has learnt many traditional working skills. He has also spent many years working on Dartmoor with people involved in outdoor pursuits, such as Ten Tors. He is a retired member of Dartmoor Rescue Group (Ashburton) Search And Rescue team. He has spent many years exploring the Devon countryside perusing his other interest in industrial archaeology and local history. He recently used his local knowledge and field craft skills to great advantage when helping bat researchers work in local woodlands . His work in spoon carving and edge tool maintenance is a culmination of all of his experience.

The flowing feminine lines in his carving reflect his love of the natural landscape. Each spoon is unique, as no two pieces of wood are the same. They are objects of great beauty that are designed to be used.

Jon believes passionately that the skills of both using and maintaining knife and axe blades are ones which need to be shared, in order that we do not loose these important techniques. Jon particularly enjoys sharing these skills with those who have little or no experience of using edge tools.

He runs tailor made courses for anyone interested in spoon carving and woodcraft skills. Using traditional hand tools made by artisans working in the British Isles. With the Axe , hook knife and the MaChris carving knife, he teaches the techniques for the fast and safe removal of waste wood.These skills are key to making anything you wish out of wood.